Australia bushfires: Which animals typically fare best and worst?
Koalas ‘Functionally Extinct’ After Australia Bushfires Destroy 80% Of Their Habitat
You beat me to posting one on the sad plight of the little guys. Much appreciated. Thanks.
22 November 2019
Image caption A badly burnt koala in care at a koala hospital in New South Wales Getty Images
Koalas yelping for help, beehives caught in the path of danger, food chains interrupted: Australia's bushfire crisis is having a destructive effect on the nation's wildlife, writes Gary Nunn in Sydney.
The deadly spring blazes have burnt through almost two million hectares in New South Wales and Queensland alone. Many animals are resilient but others, unfortunately, don't survive, often because their potential escape habitats have already been destroyed by human activity.
The animals more likely to perish in bushfires
Koalas are typically slow-moving and their normal danger-avoidance strategy - curling into a ball atop a tree - has left them trapped in extreme fires. For anyone within earshot, there's one clear indicator that an animal is in trouble.
"Koalas don't make noise much of the time," says Prof Chris Dickman, an ecology expert at Sydney University.
In the aftermath of a blaze, frogs and skinks (lizards) are among animals left vulnerable, says wildlife ecologist Prof Euan Ritchie from Deakin University.
"The fire can kill their food or shelter, or both. These animals might survive the immediate effects of a fire if they can escape in time, but if it burns their habitat, they're more exposed to the introduced predators," he says.
[...]
A wallaby on the road behind an emergency car after escaping a bushfire near Nana Glen in New South Wales Getty Images
Disconnected patches of habitat left as a result of bushfires and human clearing also pose a threat to already endangered species.
These include the western ground parrot, the Leadbeater's possum, the Mallee emu-wren (a bird which can't fly very far), and Gilbert's potoroo - Australia's most endangered marsupial. Beekeepers have also told of losing hives in fire-hit forests.
Prof Dickman says it's "naive" to say that, because fires have always burned in Australia, there's historical resilience.
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